Concering reviews about unknown products

[Benjamin J 751]

Hello,First and foremost, AVSIM usually is the first place I go when I want to search for files or reviews. Sometimes however, it happens there is no review for the product I search. While understandable, it can be annoying: sometimes there seem to be good products that go entirely unnoticed. The Aerosim aircraft packages are a good example of this. It's almost completely unknown, without good reason. i think you get good value for your money. What I'd like to see is that these packages get their respective reviews, even if I'd have to write them myselves. As a matter of fact, I bought the Classic Liners Vol. 1 of Aerosim some days ago, and seeing it's actually rather good quality, I'm a bit surprised that there's hardly anything to be found about it.I ask you, could it be possible to write a review about one or more of Aerosim's packages? Because, in my opinion, one of the biggest shortcomings of these packages is the tiny amount of available repaints, which is something that could be tackled if there was more attention to it.I hope you guys will consider this.Regards,Benjamin

[Chock 17,769]

You have to understand that it is really up to the developer to send things in for review in most cases. Avsim could and occasionally does contact developers to get hold of things, but generally speaking the way it works for most products is that the company's marketing department sends in a copy so that it can be reviewed, because that is effectively a way to get the product known with a wider audience.Of course in the case of Aerosim, one of the reasons that may not have happened is because of the language barrier (the Aerosim people being Japanese as far as I am aware). There is actually a dedicated forum to the Aerosim products on Avsim, so that might be somewhere you could go to garner a bit of interest in repaints, even without a repaint kit it is possible to do them with a bit of work, so an enterprising painter might be inclined to answer your call, and that would be the place to find people who have the product, and thus have the texture files necessary to do such a repaint. From what I know of Aerosim's products, they are broadly on par with aircraft such as CLS in terms of features, notably where the INS is concerned, so I suspect there would indeed be some interest in different liveries.Of course there is another option where reviewing is concerned, and that is to do a user review and post it up on Avsim. These do get read by people, often as much as the 'official' Avsim reviews, and if you wanted to do such a review then there would be nothing preventing you from doing so. If you have never contemplated doing such a review and are not sure how to go about it, take a look at some of the Avsim reviews and the format they take, and then emulate that style. I'd certainly be interested in reading your thoughts on Aerosim and I daresay others would too, and whilst doing a review can involve a fair bit of work if you want to make it comprehensive, it's often a bit like being a test pilot, which is a notion you might enjoy.Why not give it a shot?Al

[Guest jshyluk]

Hi, Benjamin:Usually, AVSIM is the first place I go to for reviews and files as well! Your question is a good one. If you did not know, the AVSIM Review Staff is composed entirely of volunteers, so we tend to work on our own schedule. Recently, I got promoted, and with the promotion I got a raise: now I get sixty minutes an hour (that's my wife's joke). Generally, AVSIM recieves evaluation copies of products from the vendors. Our Reviews Editor Robert Whitwell is responsible for arranging that. Often enough, a Reviewer will take on a product that he or she bought for themselves, although if that happens, Robert needs to know so that he doesn't get duplicate articles from two different Reviewers. Robert definitely knows what all of the third-party add-ons are. If you haven't seen a review for a product you are looking for, usually the review is on its way, or else the vendor never contacted AVSIM. For instance, looking at today's listings, AVSIM has nearly forty (!) products being reviewed for FS9 And FSX, with about ten of those in the final stages of edit. Beyond that, there are nearly a dozen products on taxi to the runway awaiting review. Thank you for bringing Aerosim's Classic Liners to our attention. Certainly, if there is a product you would like to see reviewed, by all means ask! However, you've hit upon a topic that's close to me, where you suggest that you write a review yourself. AVSIM needs Reviewers! Writing a review is a long and complicated process, but I find it very rewarding. I wish I could review all of the products! If you think you have the time, energy, and skill to come up with your own reviews, then absolutely e-mail Robert Whitwell here at AVSIM, and he will give you a try-out. Follow the basic structure of our reviews, and take screenshots as you go along. You do need to be good with the English language, but you do not have to be a professional writer. A fair number of our Reviewers have English as a second language. You do not have to format the review so that the pictures are placed with the text. The Reviews Editor will do that to fit the needs of the AVSIM page format. You also don't have to be a Flight Sim guru, although some experience with the sim will always help -- you do have to be enthusiastic about the hobby, and willing and able to write about it! I encourage you (or anyone reading this) to try out as an AVSIM Reviewer! Jeff ShylukSenior Staff ReviewerAVSIM

[Benjamin J 751]

Wow, I'm awed by such a nice and positive reply! It's a long time ago such a nice and in all aspects helpful reply to a post of mine.Thanks for all the info. I've always wanted to review stuff over here, but I never quite knew how to. I'd love to spread the word on products of Aerosim (I think they deserve that bigtime), and other products when they are made available to me for review. Generally, I love to advise people this way. You have given me a way of doing that, for which I thank you hartily. I'll contact Robert for sure, if you tell me where I can find his email adress?Thanks,Benjamin

[Chock 17,769]

Click on the Avsim Editorial Staff link (in red) on the left side of the main Avsim page, that'll bring up a window with the Avsim staff listed on it, where you can find all the email contact addresses. Or, to save you the trouble, here it is: robertw@avsim.comYou don't actually have to do that though, you can simply post a review in the User reviews forum on Avsim if you like, although since Avsim haven't covered Aerosim much, you might like to let Robert know of your interest in doing so. If you join the Avsim staff, you'll get your name on the forums in different colour, like mine, erm isn't LOL Still wish they'd fix thatAl

[Benjamin J 751]

Thanks, wrote him an email.

[Robert W 3]

If anyone out there finds a product that hasn't been reviewed, whether it be aircraft/scenery/utility software or a piece of hardware, please bring it to my attention and I will contact the developer and attempt to acquire the title for review.While I scan the pages of the 60+ third party vendors I'm in contact with, Murphy's Law states that I will miss something.If you would like to review it yourself, you have the option of purchasing it yourself and start writing, or come onboard as a staff member and I'll get it for you to write about. (and you get to keep it when you're done....that's your "pay").Please send me the Title, Vendor/Distributor and a URL of items we've missed. We're here to help you with your Flight Sim experience.

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

If you join the Avsim staff, you'll get your name on the forums in different colour, like mine, erm isn't LOL Still wish they'd fix thatAl

Fixed Al.

[Chock 17,769]

Yup, I noticed. Thanks.Al